Serrieres leads French podium sweep at 2021 XTERRA European Cross Triathlon Championships
The 2021 XTERRA European Cross Triathlon Championships proved to be a great day for the Elite Men from France, who completed a podium sweep at the top tier of European Cross Triathlon as Arthur Serrieres crossed the winning tape to take Gold.
XTERRA in partnership with European Triathlon were hosting the 2021 European Cross Triathlon Championships in the first-ever XTERRA Trentino Dolomiti Paganella off-road race on Sunday, September 26, 2021, in the breath-taking location situated on the shores of Lake Molveno, Italy, fronting the Brenta Dolomites.
It was Arthur Serrieres who turned out to be the strongest athlete of the three top French athletes as they battled it out for the championship title with Serrieres taking an impressive win in a time of 2:22:53 with his fellow compatriots Felix Forissier another 30 seconds behind taking home silver and Maxim Chane rounding off the French podium sweep with bronze in 2:26:35.
In the crowning glory Arthur Serrieres winning Xterra Dolomiti Paganella made this race his 14th career XTERRA World Tour full distance race victory and seventh this season alone have just won XTERRA European Championship in Zittau, Germany last month.
With the weather forecast threatening rain and thunderstorms, the men’s elite athletes lined up for the 750m swim in the crystal-clear waters of Lake Molveno.
Serrieres two fellow countrymen Forissier and Chane made the most of the swim exiting the water in 6th and 7th place whilst Serrieres exited the swim (not his strongest suit) over a minute behind in 17th place.
Onto the gruelling 29k bike section engulfed by the stunning Dolomites and here Serrieses was able to make ground with the fastest spilt in a time of 01:27:22 to move into third position at T2 behind Forissier and Chane.
Onto the 10k run and Serrieres was now able to showcase his running strengths as both he and Forissier passed Chane to battle it out as both pushed each other to the maximum.
But it was Serrieres running strength that saw him make the break as he headed towards the finish line with the two other French athletes in hot pursuit as the trio eventually took all three podium spots.
